Hover a line for its reading in kana and its translation; hover a word for its meaning. Tap 🔊 to hear it.
Generate a brand-new dialog on any topic, using this lesson's 0 vocab words — plus any words you add below.
Sign in to generate dialogues. It needs a pass — the first ten lessons of every course are free either way.
The Tosa dialect
土佐弁, the dialect of Kōchi, is one of the best-known regional varieties of Japanese, partly because it was the speech of Sakamoto Ryōma, the 19th-century figure from Tosa who appears in countless dramas. Its most famous word, ぜよ, is now used mainly by actors playing him; everyday Tosa speech is far more likely to be heard in 〜ちゅう, 〜ゆう, 〜き and がよ. Like several western Japanese dialects, Tosa distinguishes an action in progress (〜ゆう) from a completed state (〜ちゅう), a difference that standard 〜ている blurs. Younger speakers in Kōchi city use much less dialect than their grandparents, and in the mountains the oldest residents may still speak it almost exclusively. A newcomer is expected to bring a small gift when introducing himself to the neighbors — sweets from where he came from are the classic choice — and to accept tea if it is offered. The grammar taught here: recognizing 〜ゆう/〜ちゅう and 〜き/〜やき, and ものだ, ことか and といえば.